Unearned

So I was reading this comic book and of course, there were Superheroes involved but the telling hit me a little bit different than usual. It talked about people going around with superpowers that were unearned. It made me think about how a disproportionate amount of people in the world have been dealt a real nasty hand in terms of poverty, sickness, violence, and death all of which for any way we can see was unearned. How does one earn a super power anyway? 

Let’s talk about unearned life-changing events. People that win the lottery, the big winners, get a whole lot of unearned money. Is that wrong? What about a random guess in the stock market that turns unsuspecting people into millionaires, a lucky guess? People born into poverty and violence statistically tend to have really bad futures. Is that earned? What about people that are molested or get shot in a driveby or die in a fatal car accident?

The scary part in this for me is that there are people who feel that they or someone else obtained (not achieved) an unearned outcome and what they might do with that perspective. In this “free country” I live in, there are plenty of people who will say what they want just because they can, be it truth, perspective, or falsehood. If something appears wildly unfair and gets enough media coverage it becomes a ‘thing’, perhaps even a movement. While annoying and/or heartbreaking, these can be ignored. Just change the channel. When people act on these perceptions or I would rather say judgments, it’s a whole new ballgame.

What happens when people want to force you to listen to their opinion by cornering you at the grocery store or ambushing you at your home or place of business? What happens when they feel something so unfair and unearned has happened that violence is required to make it fair again. I think that’s what scares me. Mob mentality towards how other people should act or feel. Who is wrong, those that benefit from unearned outcomes or those that suffer due to unearned outcomes? 

I feel like it is impossible and perhaps unreasonable for everyone to expect to get what they think they deserve or only what they’ve earned. I think such expectations or more fairy tales, hopes, or wishes. If you only get what you think you deserve then much fewer people would gamble, take chances, or try anything new. There would be fewer innovations. Who would decide what you’ve earned anyway? This is one of the reasons I have no interest in becoming President or even a judge. I wouldn’t mind some unearned wealth or power though. I wouldn’t even mind earning it if I knew what the costs would be.